11 Ways To Play With Your Nail Polish Collection

Photo of light green, peach and neutral nail polishes by DS stories on Pexels

Photo of light green, peach and neutral nail polishes by DS stories on Pexels

Updated 2024.07.06

Collecting nail polish isn’t just about the act of collecting things. 

While acquiring nail polishes is a wonderful thing, collecting polish is also about enjoying your collection once it’s there.

Wondering how you can playfully enjoy your nail polish collection?

Below are 11 different ways to interact with and enjoy your nail polish collection.

Photo of five tan and blue nail polish bottles by Los  Muertos Crew on Pexels

Photo of five tan and blue nail polish bottles by Los  Muertos Crew on Pexels

1 - Physically organize your nail polish collection

Find a set of storage drawers. You can find them on the side of the road, from a relative clearing out the attic or at a store.

Clean and fill the drawers with your nail polish collection. 

Organize each nail polish drawer by sorting your polishes: color, brand, season, finish or any other category you like.

2 - Perform general maintenance your nail polish bottles

Go through all your bottles to shake them up and wipe off dust.

Using gloves (don’t ruin your nails), unscrew the caps and clean the bottle threads with acetone and paper towel. Screw the caps back on as tight as you can.

3 - Make a spreadsheet for your nail polish collection

Use Google Sheets or another spreadsheet software you like to create a new sheet. Focus on the header row. Title your polish columns with brand, color name, color number, color type and finish. 

In each row, import all your polishes.

When all your polishes are in your spreadsheet, use the software’s data sorting options to sort your collection by any quality you’re interested in.

To continue the fun, add header categories. Add columns for whether it’s vegan, quick-dry, made in your country and any special quality you want to sort your collection by.

4 - Swatch your nail polish collection

Using nail polish swatch sticks, swatch your polish collection. Arrange the swatches on a swatch wheel or ring.

Organize the finished color swatches in a rainbow and have fun identifying similarities and favorites.

5 - Set up a seasonal display on your vanity

Pull colors from your inventory that are currently in season. Put away all out of season colors for later. Every season, refresh your display to showcase what’s in season to you, right now.

6 - Declutter your nail polish collection

Go through your polish collection by picking up each bottle. Notice if the color still brings you joy, contemplate how long you’ve had it and the last time you’ve worn it.

Declutter any polishes that no longer bring joy, are too old to use, or haven’t been worn and appreciated in a very long time.

7 - Sort your nail polish by color

Group your nail polishes by color using ROYGBIV. Identify if you have any similar colors or gaps you need to fill for your tonal spectrum in any color.

8 - Give yourself a new mani-pedi

Select the colors that inspire and make you happy right now. Grab your manicure kit. Use these colors to give yourself a new mani and/or pedi.

9 - Add some nail art

Apply extra flair; place glitter, water decals, stickers, gemstones or hand painted designs on your existing manicure. 

10 - Add a new nail polish in a fun color or with a fun name to your inventory

Choose a color with a shade, name or both that makes you smile. 

When your new polish comes home, make a swatch stick for it, add it to your inventory, compare it to other colors, place it in your seasonal display and wear it.

11 - Use your nail polish for other projects

Incorporate some of your nail polish colors to repair ceramics. 

Dot nail polish on mended threads to prevent sewing crafts from unraveling. Paint your house key handles with nail polish to identify which key goes to what door.

Photo of line of peach, neutral and light green polishes by DS stories on Pexels with text overlay 11 Ways To Play With Your Nail Polish Collection

Photo of line of peach, neutral and light green polishes by DS stories on Pexels with text overlay 11 Ways To Play With Your Nail Polish Collection

These are just a few of the ways you can have fun with your nail polish collection. When you play with your collection using one of the activities above, you should feel a sense of happiness.

If any of the activities above give you that sense of joy, play with your collection in that way again and keep the fun going.

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Our purpose is to celebrate the joy of fresh nails. Our goal is to help you have fun and awesome nails at the same time.

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